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– The drop out figures were released for California Thursday. African American and Hispanic students have the highest drop out rates in California’s public high schools. Thirty-seven percent of African Americans and twenty-seven percent of Hispanic students will not make graduation day. The numbers are based on 2009 data, and appear to be rising.

Oakland’s overall dropout rate is forty percent, while San Francisco is only at nine percent. On average, the state dropout rate is twenty-two percent, which is up from nineteen percent the prior year. The studies numbers still have to be confirmed.

2009’s numbers have been released several months later than usual. According to state schools Superintendent Jack O’Connell this is because of complications in launching a system that can track students’ progress in the California state school system even if they move.
“We now have a data system that allows us to track students more accurately and have honest conversations about how to improve graduation rates and reduce dropouts among all subgroups of students,” O’Connell said.

Mr. O’Connell listed the reasons for the increasing dropout rate to include larger class sizes, cuts to sports programs, fewer counselors, fewer art and music classes, and less access for students to career/technical courses.

– The City and County Of San Francisco has issued a Request for Proposals for “LED Luminaires with Wireless Monitoring and Control System.” The bid due date is October 22, 2010.

The City owns and maintains approximately 18,500 cobra-head type high-pressure sodium (HPS) street-light luminaires, located throughout the City’s forty-nine square miles. The existing HPS luminaires will be replaced with dimmable LED street light luminaires and an integrated wireless communication monitoring and control system.

The City is seeking formal proposals to provide the City with a complete solution which will meet or exceed the minimum specifications and requirements, as stated in the Request for Proposal (RFP) documents.

For example, the technical specifications state that the LED luminaires need to be rated for a minimum operational life of 70,000 hours at an average operating time of 11 hours per night, equating to more than 17 years of service, over which time the illuminance must not decrease by more than 30 percent. The driver needs to have a rated “useful” lifetime of no less than 100,000 hours. The LED luminaire housing and finish should have a warranty of 10 years.

The luminaires must contain completely pre-wired integral drivers and an optical assembly that provide distribution type II and type III, they must have a correlated color temperature (CCT) of 4100K or less, as well as a full cut-off distribution per IESNA classification.

The LED luminaires are required to have 0-10V dimming capabilities and a power factor of 90% or greater at full load. The efficacy requirements are a minimum of 57 lm/W or better. The designed maximum junction temperature shall not exceed 105 ?C.

The City’s purpose in instigating this project is to reduce energy costs by using more energy-efficient LED luminaires, to reduce labor costs incurred in maintaining and operating the City’s streetlights, and to more efficiently and effectively maintain streetlights for end users, the citizens and visitors of San Francisco through the wireless monitoring and control system.

The City anticipates that the contract resulting from this RFP shall have an initial term of 2 years, from December 1, 2010 through November 30, 2012, although it could be extended by up to 3 years.